jake weber

As a taped message from a great-grandchild plays, Allison quietly passes away in a nursing home on the series finale of 'Medium' (Fri., 8PM ET on CBS). Joe, who died 41 years earlier in a plane crash, is patiently waiting as she enters the afterlife.

Earlier in the episode, Allison attempted to convince herself during an extended dream sequence that Joe wasn't dead. But, alas, her husband in fact died while returning from a business trip to Hawaii.

But now, as Allison succumbs to old age, the two are reunited "from now until the end of time."

Last year, the drama 'Medium' switched networks, moving from NBC to CBS. The change affected the show not a whit, as the paranormal investigation series just kept chugging along, ratings-wise. But on the season seven premiere of 'Medium' (Fri., 8PM ET on CBS), an entirely different type of "switching" took place.

[Warning: Spoiler alert.]

On the premiere, Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette) shares a dream with her teenage daughter Bridgette (Maria Lark) -- a dream about a missing homeless man. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when this shared dream-experience somehow leads to the two of them swapping bodies. Now, Allison inhabits the body of her little girl, and vice-versa.

You know what I love about Medium? The theme song/opening. We all know that theme songs and openings are pretty much lame nowadays. Some shows hardly have them at all, so it's good to see a show with a real theme song and an interesting opening sequence. Medium's is very old-fashioned and reminds me of shows like Night Gallery or The Sixth Sense.

Last night's episode was part one of a three parter starring Tracy Pollan as a "corporate intuitionist." I never thought I'd put those two words together in the same sentence, but there you go.

As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it's interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It's not a nomination, but it's one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.

Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn't even considered her in the running. I'm not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.

(S04E16) It's always nice when we get to see Joe's dreams for a change. Luckily for him, they aren't visions of the future.

I am constantly amazed at the strength of character shown by Joe Dubois. Generally characters on TV are very sensitive or have high moral standards. It's not often that they have both. The best part is that while Joe knows that he is doing the right thing and really has no other choice, you can see the frustration and the anxiety in his face. I wonder if Jake Weber could possibly get an Emmy nominee for this role.

(S04E13) "Allison... close your eyes. I gotta get out of bed now and I'm not wearing any clothes." - Lee Scanlon

The opening voice over left me a bit unnerved. I'm used to Mediumstarting with some kind of disturbing vision. The only thing disturbing about Allison's narration was that it made me feel like I was watching Criminal Minds.

The pool of blood seeping from the head of Di Novi's dead friend was a little closer to what I've come to expect and I really liked the surrealistic way Scanlon and Di Novi repeated Allison's dream verbatim.

Didn't Medium's Allison see this coming? Apparently not. Kelly Preston will be joining NBC's Medium for a four-show stint. Kelly will be playing a character named Meghan Doyle, a venture capitalist who invests in Joe Dubois, Allison's husband's, new solar-based invention. Presumably her interest in Joe is all business, but by the time the first of four episodes ends, the one called Partners in Crime, you can bet that the tension between Allison and Joe will be positively palpable.

(S04E08) I'm really starting to wonder how long D.A. Van Dyke is going to stick around. Since he's already been established as bad at his job and an all around douchebag, hasn't he worn out his welcome? More to the point, Devalos is starting to seem a little petulant to me. If he keeps whining about wanting to be the D.A, people are going to stop wanting him back, even the die-hard Mediumfans

Kathy Baker seems a little more comfortable in the second part but maybe that's the wine talking. It's the mark of a good actor to be able to manufacture what is supposed to be a long-term relationship between two characters. Jake Weber and Baker seemed very used to each other while she was sharing stories. I liked watching it.

Yet another reason I try to stay away from red meat. You never know when you might end up eating one of your own limbs. It's nice to see Allison being startled by a dream that is actually disturbing.

I figured it was only a matter of time before Devalos makes his way back to his old office and, to be honest, I like the way the show is going about it. I would be insulted if they dragged it out by having him ponder the decision of going back. There's no reason he shouldn't want his old job back and I say the sooner he does, the better.

Paris, 10CC, white wine, the only thing that could make this scene more romantic is a corkscrew through the hand. Am I the only one who immediately thought of the scene in True Romance when Patricia Arquette drives a corkscrew through James Gandolfini's foot? Good times.

Michael Gross looks good, right? He looks a lot older than Steven Keaton but he wears it well. Personally, I would be thrilled to see him as a recurring character, but I'm not holding my breath.

(S03E22) This has been something of a roller coaster week for Medium fans. There was the high of finding out that the show will be coming back for a fourth season. Unfortunately, that was followed by news that NBC is going to move the show to Sundays, waiting until the end of football to bring it back. That makes for an 8 month wait between now and our next visit with Allison.

The big finale followed a similar path. We got all those answers we were looking for in the Recapitator case. The fates of Debra/PD and Walter Paxton were cleared up. The fallout from Allison being exposed started, and took a couple surprising turns. Unfortunately, the episode suffered from some iffy story telling and an abrupt ending.

(S03E21) It's been a big week for the fine folks over at Medium HQ. Not only are they smack dab in the middle of their big three part finale, but they also got an early renewal from the suits at NBC. It wasn't as early as some shows, but having the network make the announcement before upfronts is still a nice vote of confidence. Now, hopefully they'll move the show back to Monday and give it that post Heroes slot next season.

But enough about renewals and scheduling. We have the next to last episode from season three to talk about. In a nutshell, I thought it moved both the Joe story, and the Paxton/Debra/Allison story, along very well. Unfortunately, it also suffered from a couple of problems. First, one way too long, and unnecessary, scene. And second, one missing character.

(S03E20) "Head Games" marks the beginning of the star studded, three part, season three finale. It was a good way to kick things off. There is a murder case for Devalos to prosecute, a new friend(?) for Allison, a new head doctor for Joe, visions that may or may not be correct, a new baby... just a lot going on. It's a good thing there are three parts to this.

Seeing as how the episode opened with Walter Paxton (Jason Priestley), let's start there. The dream within a dream open was very good. The head in the pantry came as quite a surprise, and led to a great Joe moment. He was so calm and forgiving when he woke up in the dream, but so frustrated and fed up when he woke up for real.

(S01E18) David Arquette stepped in to direct his sister this week and I think we have to say he did a pretty nice job. It didn't hurt that he was given a very fun script to work with. Much like we saw with Dr. Walker and Captain Push earlier in the season, we were again treated to an appearance of a recurring character. Allison's brother Michael (Ryan Hurst) is back. He was also featured in "Lucky" from season one and "Lucky In Love" from season two.

Truth be told, I think the interaction of Allison and her brother would have been enough to sell me on this episode. They were very good together. Two of their scenes stood out to me. The first one was the meeting with Tanya King (Cindy Pickett). Allison's reaction to Michael's "psychic" work was very amusing. Every time she gave a drawn out sigh I laughed.